BUNDAR KALAMKARI HOUSE Kalamkari, a hand-block printing art form, enjoys a long tradition several centuries old. The word ‘kalam’ means a pen in Hindi, and literally the borders are drawn by means of an improvised pen-like implement made from a palmyra leaf vein or a thin bamboo shoot shaved to a narrow end and then softened for use by dipping into the dye and then writing or drawing. Mostly they are free-hand sketches and hence the value addition of a human touch. In its present day form Kalamkari is mostly done by employing hand-blocks for printing making use of vegetable dyes and specially prepared formulations which are deposited on the fabric into various designs and then dried and washed. ENTER - Nagendra (Bundar Kalamkari House) of Pedana, a small village of 50,000 people, half of whom are weavers. Pedana is situated on the south-east coast of India, in Andhra Pradesh, and 20 km north-east of Machilipatnam, one of the oldest ports of India. This is the birth-place of Kalamkari, which originated more than 500 years ago. Mordant dyes/vegetable colours are more by accident than by design, because of the uncertainties involved. It is quite a laborious process spread over many days even to match a desired colour, which finally is arrived by a trial-and-error method. Further, the designs finally created on the fabric by hand-block printing has the factor of human inconsistency – things like a print fresh in the morning would be more sharp than the one in the evening when the artisan is a bit stressed out by then. Moreover, the blocks are created by the carpenters/artisans, who may not employ precision calibrators in manufacturing them. As if this were not enough, the fabric is washed several times, resulting in some shrinking and skewing of the texture and may show up as slight distortions which has to be taken in by a more than the ‘generous’ eye of the discerning customer.
The range of Bundar Kalamkari House products comprise table-cloth, napkins, cushion/duvet/doona/bolster covers, curtains et al. |
|
||
Bundar Kalamkari House
|
||
Bundar Kalamkari House is supporting and sustaining around 150 families and involving 200 people like printers, tailors, dhobis and other assistants networking for his business.